


silver as the moon above

by theflyjar



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Law Enforcement, Alternate Universe - MAMA (EXO Music Video), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Intimacy, M/M, Needles, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Scars, Secrets, Stalking, Supernatural Law Enforcement, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-16 22:31:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14820137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyjar/pseuds/theflyjar
Summary: Yixing never asks questions when Yifan comes in bloody and bruised every night.





	silver as the moon above

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: #336  
> Pairing: Kris/Lay  
> Rating: Mature  
> Warnings: Blood, needles  
> Author's note:  
> Thank you to the mods for running the fest and being extremely supportive, as well as positive, throughout. Thank you to the prompter who left this, I really enjoyed writing this AU - and I hope you enjoy what I have written.  
> Yifan doesn't have his MAMA powers, but everyone else does. Yifan's powers are explained in the fic!

Yifan’s hair wisps and comes out in tufts when he’s been sleeping. Yixing toys with them between his fingers every morning they wake up together, waiting for Yifan’s eyes to open and for their day to begin. Yifan wakes up later, sometimes even two hours after Yixing, and he’s always groggy when he does so. But, his morning grumpiness dissipates when he sees Yixing grinning at him. Yixing supposes that they’re still in their honeymoon phase. They’ve barely been together for a few months. They only started spending the night with each other three weeks before.

And even then, Yifan is out during most nights, so Yixing can’t always sleep over.

Lu Han says they’re going too fast, especially since Yifan’s been hinting at giving Yixing a key. So he can come and go as he pleases. It’s Baekhyun that says to trust Yixing, to let Yixing decide whether or not it feels right. And Yixing thinks it does. He feels like he _knows_ this is different to the relationships he’s had before. It makes him nervous when he’s in his own apartment, alone in his bed with his fingers curled around his phone.

Sometimes he has a few doubts, like when Yifan suddenly stops replying to messages only to return a few hours later when Yixing’s already asleep. Yixing feels like he’s too dependent already, that he’s clingy when he starts to miss Yifan when it’s only been a few hours. Lu Han says he’s an idiot, and Yixing agrees with him. He feels like an idiot because he just can’t seem to stop himself from being like that. Still, when he opens his eyes and sees the flicks of Yifan’s hair in the warm morning sunlight, his fingers twitch. He moves closer and brushes his fingers gently across Yifan’s scalp, tracing lines through the strands until they fall back, relaxed, against his head again. Yixing can hear the traffic outside as people start their commutes to work, and Yixing’s glad he hasn’t been called into work, because he can stay there until Yifan’s eyelids flicker at around half ten.

Yixing’s phone vibrates on the table with a message, and Yixing huffs as he leans back to pick it up, slipping away from the heat from Yifan’s skin to grab it. It seems he’s missed a few messages since he went to sleep and he skims through his work group chat. He’s relieved when he sees he doesn’t have to get up and go to work, but groans when he sees Lu Han tell _everyone_ that Yixing is staying at his “mysterious” boyfriend’s apartment. Everyone’s freaking out. No one other than Lu Han and Baekhyun even knew that Yixing was seeing someone.

He feels like he needs to explain but his fingers freeze up over the keyboard and he tries out a few sentences. He gives up on words and settles for an angel emoji.

A deep, sleep-laden laugh rumbles from behind him as lips press against his shoulder, “I guess we’re public now then, huh?”

Yixing hums and turns his head towards his boyfriend, stealing a kiss before he stuffs his phone under his pillow again. He twists to face Yifan and runs his fingers up Yifan's chest, feeling the odd bump of scars under his touch. Yifan pulls him close and kisses the two moles on Yixing's cheeks.

“They're probably all screaming in their messages. They'll be over it soon, though.”

Yifan squeezes Yixing around the waist a little and it makes Yixing giggle, since Yifan's fingers tickle over his ribs, “Well, maybe people knowing you're taken isn't such a bad thing...”

“That sounds awfully possessive,” Yixing mumbles with a gentle snort. “Are you really that kind of man?”

“Not really, it would make me happy to know you've told people about me,” Yifan reasons with another kiss to Yixing's throat. “I mean, I'm kind of great.”

“You are, and now I can share you with everyone.”

 

☾☾☾

 

Instead of it being Lu Han saying it, it’s Baekhyun. It’s Baekhyun who says Yixing’s moving too fast with Yifan when they get engaged within a year of dating. But, again, Yixing thinks it feels right. He _knows_ that this relationship he has with Yifan is _‘it’_ for him.

There’s no such thing as soulmates in their world, but that’s what it feels like. It’s why Yixing tells Yifan all his secrets, and he hopes he gets all of Yifan’s in return.

And, when it does come to their wedding day, Yixing takes the, _“in sickness and in health, until death do us part,”_ with total sincerity when he speaks it up to Yifan.

So when Yifan slips out at night to wreak havoc in the city - only returning to Yixing’s arms to be healed and cared for in the early hours of the morning - Yixing doesn’t ask where all the blood comes from. Or, even if it’s all Yifan’s. He does what he can as a husband, and a healer, to care for the person he loves more than anything else in the world.

Yixing should care that Yifan’s a creature of evil, but he doesn’t. He just cares that Yifan is alive and that he loves him. Not wavering in his loyalty when his team are assigned to Yifan’s case to neutralise him as a threat.

 

☾☾☾

 

Lu Han slams his hand on his desk, which makes Yixing jolt back in his seat and he stands up in fright. It turns out that in Lu Han’s hand was a series of photographs, in each there’s only fragments of a bodily shape, one that shimmers in silver and diamond white. It’s beautiful to look at, Yixing thinks to himself, dragging his fingers down across the glossy paper, across the hands and legs that have been caught by the camera.

“He got away,” Lu Han releases in a strained yell. _“Again.”_

This criminal, this villain, has been evading the team for months on end. They land scrapes and cuts across that diamond skin, just no concrete blow.

“I don’t know how he keeps healing so quickly.” Chanyeol sucks on his teeth, throwing a ball up into the air and catching it again as it falls. “I caught him with fire a couple of days ago and there’s barely a blemish there.”

Yixing looks down at his hands as he removes them from the photographs, balling them up into fists then spreading them out on his own desk, next to his laptop. He doesn’t even need a desk, other than to keep his personal belongings on and give him a space in the office with the rest of the team. He turns and glances at everyone, especially Lu Han who’s tapping away his own laptop.

“There’s no rogue or unknown healers either,” is what Jongdae says, stepping into the room from the small adjoined kitchen. “I’ve checked the databases over and over, too. I can’t find anyone who would fit the criteria in anything the government has on record. This Kris guy must have someone, there’s no way anyone naturally heals that fast, even if they’re supernatural, but I can’t find who it is.”

Leaning back on his chair, Yixing closes his eyes and he wishes he could feel guilt. He longs for that slimy and weighted feeling of betrayal. And yet, it’s not there. It tells him that he doesn’t regret what he’s done.

Baekhyun’s the one holding the DSLR camera, and he sighs, “Well, it’s not like we can do anything until he shows again,” as he slides the camera into his desk drawer.

“And who knows when that will be,” Lu Han shrugs, shoving the photographs into his desk drawer.

“But, we should just go out and get some lunch,” Chanyeol suggests, gathering up his jacket and work bag. “He doesn’t do anything during the day, so we’ve got the time.”

Everyone agrees with him, them all collecting their belongings and debating where to go for their food. Yixing doesn’t move, though, he stays in his seat and rolls back up to his desk on it.

“You coming, Xing?” Baekhyun asks, catching Yixing’s attention.

“No, Yifan’s going to pick me up in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re working the short shift today?” Lu Han sounds genuinely surprised, even if their rota is pinned to the back of the door.

“Yeah, I’m on-call, though, like always.”

The rest of them leave the room, with only Lu Han hovering by the door and looking Yixing over. He still puts his coat on and stuffs his phone, along with its charger, into his pockets whilst Yixing logs back into his laptop.

“You look tired, Xing,” is what he says when everyone has gone, making noise down the corridor. “Is Yifan working nights again?”

A question like that puts a chill down Yixing’s spine. He shrugs, telling Lu Han, “It's not that bad.”

“Make sure you get more rest,” Lu Han hums, starting to walk out of the door to follow the others. “Especially if you’re on call. And tell Yifan to be safe when he’s going to and from work, you know, with Kris still at large.”

Yixing waves at him, silently telling him goodbye and Lu Han leaves like that, with Yixing remaining at his desk until he gets a message through from Yifan telling him that he’s arrived. Without hesitating Yixing slides over to Baekhyun’s desk, where the photographs are laid out and he flicks through them quickly, scanning over each section that has a part of the villain in it.

It takes no time at all for Yixing to spy something in one of the prints, the little black flick of a tattoo on the silver arm of the perpetrator. Yixing holds the image in his hands and moves over to Baekhyun’s desk, opening up his laptop and quickly typing in the password. A sense of relief rests in Yixing’s stomach with the knowledge that their office has no CCTV in it, given the amount of security it takes to get through to that area of the government compound.

Yixing looks through the digital RAWs and finds the one that matches what he’s holding in his hand, he deletes it and changes the names of all the other files so they still go in sequence with one another. He checks the memory card that’s in the camera Baekhyun keeps in his desk, nodding firmly when he sees that all the photographs have been wiped off.

It’s not the first time he’s done this, he’s done it so often that the nerves aren’t even there anymore. It’s so routine that he doesn’t feel a fright when his phone vibrates on his own desk. He slides back over it again, holding onto the photograph in his hands and stuffing it into his bag, along with his phone and laptop. All he has in his hand is the pass he needs to scan on all the doors to leave the building.

He walks out calmly and smiles at the armed guards that line the corridors, all of them bowing their heads to each other respectfully and Yixing even heals a few, ones that come to him complaining about blisters and torn callouses from altercations with villains. He does all of it happily, laughing along to the jokes he’s told.

All of it is genuine. As if he’s not technically smuggling integral evidence out of the guarded building. No one suspects him either, which makes it easier.

Yifan’s waiting on a bench outside of the compound’s exit, fiddling with his phone and rubbing his chest. Yixing wasn’t able to fully heal the wound when it happened, so he knows the natural healing itch must have set in for Yifan to be touching it. He doesn’t verbally announce himself to Yifan, he just touches around his husband’s neck and kisses the crown of his head. Yixing half expects Yifan to freeze or squeak at the action, but instead his hands are caught in Yifan’s and Yifan skims his lips over Yixing’s knuckles.

“Good afternoon,” he mumbles, kissing the pierced lobe of Yifan’s ear. “Ready to get some lunch?”

“Yeah,” Yifan nods. “I woke up two hours ago and haven’t had a bite to eat.”

“Did you eat when you came back in last night?” Yixing whispers, keeping their conversation between the two of them.

“I went straight to you because, you know, my chest.” Yifan shrugs and Yixing lets it go, simply moving away from the back of the bench when Yifan moves to stand up.

They join hands almost immediately and Yixing leads the way, Yifan trailing just behind as Yixing decides where to go to eat. He heads towards the subway station and Yifan stays as close to him as he can, even when they’re in the carriage of the train they need to take towards the city centre.

Yixing looks up at Yifan, looking over his face and smiling when Yifan looks right back at him. He lets his eyes slip down and sees that Yifan’s shirt has fallen a little, revealing the burn wound that’s on his chest. Yixing does the top button of Yifan’s shirt up to cover it.

Yifan doesn’t stop smiling as he does so.

 

☾☾☾

 

The sound of the lock turning and clicking open is what wakes Yixing, rousing him from a restless and dreamless sleep. He rubs his eyes and sits up at the sound of rustling outside of the bedroom, remaining in the state of not quite being awake yet until he hears a loud clattering sound, followed by an equally terrifying bang.

Yixing throws the duvet off his legs and stumbles through the apartment to the entrance, gasping when he sees Yifan slumped on the floor with blood pooling around him. Without panicking, Yixing goes to the kitchen and opens the cupboard that holds his medical supplies. He takes out the fabric scissors and some bandages, then he begins to rush. In barely any time at all, he’s back at Yifan’s side, cutting the fabric of Yifan’s shirt open and is affronted by the image of a bloodied mess.

There’s a mixture of damage done, of burns, stab wounds and scratch marks. Yixing puts his fingers over them and into them, worrying his lip between his teeth when Yifan doesn’t even groan at the contact. Yixing lets all of his energy flow out of him, trying not to focus on the blood that comes out of Yifan’s mouth in a stream and ignoring how limp Yifan’s heartbeat is. Yixing unleashes his powers in their rawest form, actually feeling all his ability to keep his eyes open and body stable fading away. He keeps his hands embedded in Yifan’s chest, healing everything that he can internally.

His own heart beats erratically, every inch of him trembling in anxiety and fear because Yifan’s eyes aren’t opening. Not like they usually do once Yifan has passed out after an attack. Nor is his heart rate picking up. Yixing’s palms _hurt_ with how much effort he’s putting into healing Yifan.

The cuts and gashes over Yifan’s body are signs that someone was set on killing Yifan. Yixing doesn’t know what to make of that, wishing will all his might that it wasn’t someone on his team and that Yifan doesn’t have enemies that would want to slaughter him so brutally.

He manages to croak, “Please wake up,” before every part of his body crumbles under the strain of his own powers.

Yixing receives nothing in response. Only silence. Silence and utter darkness as he buckles weakly, falling limply on top of Yifan as his own ability to breathe wanes.

 

☾☾☾

 

Part of Yixing doesn’t think he’s going to wake up when morning comes, but he does. He’s still on top of Yifan in the hallway and everywhere in his body is in pain, like he’s consumed everything Yifan had been feeling the night before, as so much of it is centred in his chest.

He ignores how his joints burn and ache in favour of checking on Yifan.

Yixing can see and feel Yifan’s blood on his own body, given that it had continued to pool for a while whilst Yixing was passed out. However, his breathing is evening out and the internal wounds have stitched together. Yixing runs his bloodied fingers down Yifan’s cheek before kissing Yifan’s cool, bluish lips. Yixing hauls himself up and sets about letting his powers flow once more. This time, with a little less abandon, and he controls where the energy flows to.

He can’t see much through all the wet and dried blood mixed together, he relies solely on his instincts to lead him to where Yifan needs the most healing.

When the flesh is joined up on all the superficial wounds, he grabs the bandages he had retrieved during the night and crawls with some of it in his mouth to the closest sink. He pulls himself up using his hands and his fingers tremble as he turns on the tap, wetting the bandage until they’re completely sodden through. He returns to Yifan then, wiping away as much of the blood from Yifan’s skin that he possibly can.

It’s then that Yixing sees how pale Yifan is because of how little blood is left in Yifan’s veins. Yixing doesn’t know what to do about that. It’s as if he’s in his nightly form, in the silvery outer appearance Yifan’s villainous side takes on. But, his hair is brown, meaning Yifan’s skin should be more like Yixing’s in colour, rather than a moon-ish grey.

Yixing drags himself along the floor, back to the medical supplies cabinet and he catches the edge of the container it’s all kept in on the shelf with his fingertips, he knocks it down onto the floor. The contents spill everywhere, scattering numerous objects around. He doesn’t blink before he’s reaching for one of the empty blood bags.

Yixing ties his stethoscope around his upper left arm, pulling it taut with his mouth and right hand. He pops a fresh, thick shafted needle out of its casing, connecting it to the empty blood bag on the floor. He puts the sharp bevel over the most prominent vein on his inner elbow, removing the stethoscope and taking in a deep breath as he pushes the bevel into his flesh. Some blood erupts around where the needle point is but the bulk of it goes down the tube, into the bag.

Using bandage tape, Yixing secures the needle into his arm, leaving his free hand to move blood around in the bag as it flows in. He feels dizzy as he does everything, the world tilting on an axis and whirling around until his stomach churns with the want to vomit.

He is well aware that he should not be extracting his own blood when he’s as exhausted from healing as it is, but everything he was taught in the medical school for healers goes out of the window when he can hardly sense life in his husband.

When the bag is almost full, Yixing secures it after he pulls the needle out of his arm. He finds another needle, one that’ll help him get his blood into Yifan’s body and he shuffles along the floor as best as he can. It takes a lot longer to get back to Yifan’s side but Yixing gets to work immediately, overlooking his own failing body in favour of helping Yifan.

He can hardly hold the needle in his hands as he connects it to the blood bag, fingers unable to grip and trembling so much he can barely hold it over Yifan’s veins for a moment. He tries to steady himself for the split second he drives it into Yifan’s arm, holding it there before he can tape it down. He hooks the bag on the handle of the apartment’s door, leaning on the wooden paneling to catch his breath before he moves again.

 

☾☾☾

 

_The feeling of being watched burns on Yixing’s skin as he uses the passcode to enter his apartment building. He glances a few times over his shoulders, alternating from side to side whilst he waits for the buzzer to sound out as the lock slides across. There’s no one and nothing behind him, but that feeling doesn’t slip away as he moves in through the front door._

_It fades away as he makes his way up the stairs but comes back as soon as he drifts in front of his windows. He looks out through the glass, not seeing a single person out on the street. He can’t even pinpoint the source of where the sensation is coming from. But, with there being no one in sight, he goes about his daily routine. He waters his plants and turns them so other sections can get more natural light as the next day passes. He cooks some leftovers in the microwave and eats it from the tupperware box he’d put it in as he strolls around his apartment, cleaning up a little. He undresses in his bedroom and takes a five minute shower under cold water. All of this, he does with the weight of being stared at on his skin._

_He checks outside again when he moves to close his blinds. Again, there’s nothing out there. He shrugs to himself and slips under his duvet, turning off his light and messaging his workmates to tell them to be safe outside when they’re working overnight._

 

☾☾☾

 

_It becomes such a normal thing, the illusion that he’s being watched, that Yixing barely notices it by the time a few weeks have passed. There have been a few times that he’s sure someone is stood behind him as he opens the door to his building, but there’s always absolutely no one around. Even if it was a supernatural being, he would have been aware of their presence in how the air moves. However, there’s never anyone there at all._

_So, he gets on with his life, trying to live like he would without the pressure of someone’s eyes being upon him._

_He still takes his elderly neighbour’s trash out to the building’s large trash disposal bins each Tuesday evening when he gets home. He still looks after the woman on the ground floor’s children when she heads out to do her groceries on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He still goes out for his ten kilometre, tri-weekly runs around the area, which he does all with the impression that someone is following him. It’s strange. In the daylight, he feels nothing. He can move about freely without worry._

_It’s when night falls. It’s after twilight and only the moon is the thing visible with the city’s light pollution dulling the sky. That’s when the hairs on the back of Yixing’s neck prickle and stand on end, leaving him with an unsettled edge in his stomach._

_However, when it slips into normalcy, Yixing finds it tolerable. He assumes his affinity towards the night is fading. And, that’s all there is to it._

_There are the odd evenings where it’s difficult to ignore, where things are slightly more intense. Sometimes, on those late evening runs, when Yixing pauses to catch his breath and gulp down his water, it feels like someone is breathing on the back of his neck. It tickles at his hairline and over his skin. It’s so unmistakable that Yixing fears turning for a few moments, and only does so once the gentle blowing moves away. He twists sharply, hoping to catch whatever it was skimming breathily across his neck. He finds nothing and rubs his neck with his hand._

_He assumes it’s a breeze and his paranoia at play, so he ignores it. Even when it starts to happen on his doorstep because there’s never anything there in the darkness with him. He doesn’t feel unsafe, just exposed._

_He does begin to feel vulnerable when the feeling shifts into something malevolent, when being watched slithers down his spine like a snake to coil up into anxiousness. It doesn’t feel like the same being watching him, at all. The daylight stares are full of intent and Yixing can see shadows move when he turns. It barely takes two days for him to work out that he’s being followed by two different entities. He has to be._

_On the third day, he uses his own powers to give more of an identity to those that seem to be closing in on him. One of them is shielded away slightly, as if they are reflecting Yixing’s powers right back at him, but parts of their being slip through. Yixing thinks of soft skin and hard stares. And it’s only ever there at night._

_The other, that’s the one that gets Yixing’s fingers trembling as he holds his phone tightly in his hand as he walks from the subway station to his apartment building, thumb poised over Lu Han’s number. They let Yixing soak up so much of their life force that it dizzies him with how dark and twisted up it is. The being, Yixing can tell, is calculating and cold through and through._

_It disappears one day. A Tuesday. He doesn’t feel it in the morning, nor does he feel it when he leaves work. He breathes out a sigh of relief and leaves his phone in his apartment as he takes his neighbour’s trash out to the street. He’s hunched over the large metal container, trash bags just released onto the accumulating pile that will be cleared the next day._ _Hands grab him with too much force and yank him back, he feels winded and consumed with darkness that he doesn’t know what to do. He flails and attempts to claw the hands from his body. He can’t scream with all the air knocked out of his lungs but that doesn’t stop him from trying._

_His eyes burn and sting with tears of panic, his heart racing and his whole body trying to use adrenaline to strengthen him a little more. He fears for his life. He’s one of the most valuable beings as a healer, he knows that this could be his end or the beginning of a life he doesn’t wish to lead._

_He doesn’t resign himself to anything, he continues to fight. Even when his limbs burn and head pounds, he doesn’t wish to give himself up._

_Yixing jolts when the arms around him are ripped away, when the body of the man who had been holding him is thrown like a ragdoll into the side of the building. Under the dim lighting of the single wall lamp in the alleyway, he can catch glimmers of silver shine every so often as his attacker attempts to recover. Yixing throws himself towards the door of his apartment building, hammering in the access code and dragging the door shut behind himself once he’s inside. The lights ding as they flicker on, with his movements triggering the motion sensors._

_Just before the door clicks into place, he hears the unmistakable cracks and crunches of bones breaking that are accompanied by a short, sharp scream. Which is silenced quickly._

_He stays behind the door, catching his breath and reaching out for the wall to support himself on. Yixing stays frozen where he is when there’s the sound of knuckles rapping on glass, someone knocking on the building door. And, in the light from the hallway, Yixing can see a tall man hovering by the handle. His skin isn’t a shade of gold, like Yixing’s is, it’s silvery under the light. His hair is a platinum shade, which shimmers in an opalescent gleam as the man bows his head._

_Yixing can sense that the being is the one that’s been watching him at night through the ripples he gets from his life force. Without thinking, he taps the button next to the door and opens it. The man falls in, right to where Yixing tries to catch him. He’s covered small slashes from a knife and Yixing runs his hands over them, skimming through the blood._

_Managing to haul the man up, Yixing leads them both stumbling through the building and up to his apartment. He pulls the man in and takes him to the lounge. Without wasting much time, Yixing removes the man’s shirt and finds all of the wounds. They’re all flesh wounds, with none puncturing through his skin. Yixing can only marvel as he runs his fingers across the man’s body, healing the cuts one by one. His skin is like diamonds, like it shines in the light, and as the man’s consciousness returns more steadily, he watches Yixing heal him in amazement._

_“You’re a healer,” is the first thing the man says to him, with his eyes such a pale grey that they’re almost white. The teeth in his mouth are sharper than Yixing’s ever seen on anything, even the stray cats the loiter around outside._

_Instead of feeling scared, Yixing smiles, nodding once._

 

☾☾☾

 

Yixing lays himself down beside Yifan in the hallway, stroking his face and staring at his closed eyes. The blood in the bag is half gone, circling in Yifan’s veins instead, and it soothes Yixing that he can sense his husband healing with every beat of his heart. It was the upside to the blood of a healer, simply touching it had wondrous properties, and it was one of the best things to have in your veins when you’re hurt. Yixing hopes his blood is helping to replenish Yifan’s natural supply.

He keeps his fingers on Yifan’s cheeks, hoping to feel when the colour would return.

“I love you, so much,” he murmurs, rolling himself to brush his lips against Yifan’s jaw. “Please, be okay.”

He naps for a little longer against Yifan’s side, keeping his head on Yifan’s arm and sharing his body heat with Yifan’s cold limbs. When he awakens again, Yixing disconnects the now empty blood bag from Yifan’s arm and heaves him through their apartment. He drags Yifan up onto the bed and tucks him into it, kissing Yifan’s forehead as he does so. He checks his phone, ignoring all the calls and messages he’s received from his workmates and bosses, even though he knows he should answer at least one.

He’s government property, technically. Born to parents he barely knows, taken to the facility for healers to be taught their craft and to keep them from the grips of villainous creatures. Away from people like Yifan, or rather, Kris. He knows they’ll start to look for him soon, especially if there’s a night terror crawling through the city, picking people off and leaving barely any remains behind.

Yixing only answers when it is Yifan’s phone which goes off where it was left the night before, connected to the charger. He notes that it’s Lu Han, the person who always worries about Yixing the most.

“Hello,” he croaks, his voice grinding limply on his raw throat.

 _“Xing?”_ Lu Han’s voice echoes through the earpiece.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Yixing sits down on the bed, next to Yifan’s unconscious body, rubbing his face.

_“Where are you? You were supposed to be working the long shift today, and then you didn’t show. Do you know how much everyone has been freaking out all day?”_

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. Yifan was sick last night,” Yixing lies smoothly. “By the time we woke up this morning, I also had it.”

 _“Xing, you could just heal him, rather than letting yourself get ill, too. For a healer, your immune system is terrible.”_ Yixing can hear others in the background and he knows they’re all crowding around the phone, listening to Lu Han speak into the microphone.

“That’s against the rules, you know that. I can only heal people in the facility,” Yixing supplies as a reminder, disregarding the fact that he’s broken that rule most nights since he met Yifan four years ago. “It feels like a twenty-four or forty-eight hour bug, at most. So I will be back tomorrow or the day after, can you tell everyone that?”

_“Sure.”_

Yixing waits for Lu Han to do just that, the other relaying what Yixing has said before giving his full attention back to Yixing.

“How are things with the case?” Yixing questions, skimming his fingers up the knotted flesh on Yifan’s chest that he knows will heal down until they are nothing but smooth skin again. Yixing knows this is his chance to find it what happened to Yifan without needing to ask Yifan much at all. “Any developments?”

_“Something happened last night… It wasn’t our team, thankfully. It wasn’t anyone on our side at all. We think Kris got into an altercation with a rogue group in the next district over. We don’t know what it was about yet but it’s close to his hunting grounds, so we think Kris may be territorial. It’s all speculation, though. It’s hard to determine when you’re not there, detecting life and stuff.”_

“This rogue group, where are they now?”

 _“From the looks of things at the scene, it appears most of them are dead or severely wounded. Like I said, it’s hard to know without you there to determine how many people were on the scene. Another healer came down but they weren’t as adjusted to the case and identifying Kris’ presence as you are, so the report will be a bit clumsy.”_ Lu Han is quiet for a while, only continuing in a soft voice, _“They think the smelt death, though. It was enough to have the bosses send out a team to try and recover Kris’ body.”_

Yixing’s stomach churns, just like it had when he was dizzy with exhaustion, and he stills his hand over where Yifan’s heart is beating. There’s pride, too, however. Yifan managed to get back home, with all his injuries and his rapidly waning strength, Yifan got himself back to Yixing. Back to where he’s safe.

“I should be back to help soon,” Yixing reassures Lu Han. “But, I need some rest now. Keep me updated on everything as it happens.”

_“I will do. Get better soon, okay? The team needs you.”_

They say their goodbyes and Yixing turns Yifan’s phone off, as well as his own. He tucks then away in a drawer and take a look at his husband, leaning forward to kiss Yifan’s skin with his lips.

Knowing that Yifan’s sleeping soundly, Yixing gets himself to the kitchen to eat whatever he can from the refrigerator and grabs the litre and a half carton of orange and mango juice from the door. He closes the fridge, slides down the front of it until he can gulp down the drink and stuff his stomach full of food. He knows he will need to build his energy back up to do a few more rounds of healing on Yifan, as well as clean up the bloody mess in the front hallway.

What Yixing does first is clean up the medical supplies he’d pulled off the shelf the night before, tucking them all back into the box they’d come from and sliding that back into its position in the cupboard. He takes out ointment and decides that applying it would be better than nothing whilst he’s regaining energy. So he rubs it over the damaged parts of Yifan’s skin, enjoying how much warmer Yifan’s body seems to be getting the more he rests. It’s a good sign, along with the strength of Yifan’s heartbeat and the goldening of his skin once more.

Yixing gets more food and sits on the bed next to Yifan, eating until he feels like he can barely move. He slides down the mattress and tucks himself into Yifan’s side, searching for more rest to accelerate his recovery.

 

☾☾☾

 

_Yixing knows he shouldn’t be letting the creature kiss him, not with how cold it feels against his lips and beneath his hands. But, he still tilts his head up and curls his fingers around the man’s shoulders, welcoming the action._

_He was awoken by the buzzing of someone calling his intercom from the entrance and he had let the person in without hesitation._

_It is the tenth time it has happened, after all._

_The man comes in the early hours of the morning with new cuts and scrapes for Yixing to tend to. And Yixing is aware of how wrong it is for him to use his powers outside of work. Yet, the man causes him to not care at all. Yixing runs his hands along the man’s silver skin, over the marks and risen notches of old scars, fixing up the newer open ones._

_Whilst they kiss, Yixing can only think of how wonderfully right it feels to have those lips on his. It goes beyond throwing caution into the wind or repaying a saviour for all that they did for him. There’s something in his chest that unclenches and simmers with adoration with each breath pushed between their mouths._

_He only pulls back when warmth floods onto his body from the man, frightening Yixing slightly. And, instead of diamond metallic skin, whitish eyes, and silvery hair, everything is a shade of warmth. Golden skin. Soft, brown hair. Umber eyes. It’s like looking at a completely different being, but his touch remains the same._

_“Kiss me again,” Yixing tells him and the man responds by doing just that._

_Yixing learns of Yifan’s name that night, of how his nightly form is the embodiment of the moon and night sky. Invisible until light shines directly upon him. Hard upon his surface, his diamond skin twinkling like the stars to protect him. His speed, his strength, his power. His diamond claws and sharpened teeth, his terrifying beauty._

_Yixing’s enthralled._

_Yixing doesn’t realise that Yifan’s lust for darkness extends to the lights of other people’s lives. Not until he watches the news one night and learns of Kris Wu, an elusive and blood-thirsty creature that stalks his prey through the night until it’s time to strike. Yixing knows it’s Yifan, if not by the description alone, but the images of a chest wound on the screen are identical to the one he healed the night before._

_He doesn’t even fear the fact that the stalking method the newsreader informs viewers about is identical to what Yixing felt when he was watched night after night. He was supposed to be prey, he knows it._

_Instead of confronting Yifan about it, Yixing indulges in the attention he gets from Yifan in both his forms. Even inviting Yifan into his bed and heart. Yixing ignores everything he sees and hears in favour of being selfish with one thing in his life._

 

☾☾☾

 

_“Kris Wu is a creature of the moon. He’s highly dangerous and appears to have a kill-rate of one hundred percent. No one has survived one of his attacks before and there are rarely any witnesses. All we have to go on is a description given to us by an officer who is under the impression she saw him when she shined her torch at one of his struck victims. We are led to believe that he can only be seen under direct light, like how the moon only reflects the sun’s light at night._

_“She says his hair, his skin, his eyes, are all silver, the same colour as the moon. She describes that she saw him with teeth and claws that sit like sharpened diamonds, sharp enough to easily puncture skin. He’s lithe and feral. He should be avoided by the public at all costs.”_

_The team murmur between themselves once Junmyeon has given the introduction to_ _Kris Wu, their next case, with Yixing sat soundlessly amidst them, toying with the moon bracelet Yifan gifted him the night before. Yixing bites his lip, listening as his team leader continues to describe the brutality and cold ruthlessness of Kris Wu. He’s the creature in the night every child fears to be lurking under their bed. Yet, Yixing knows that the kind, gentle man that houses that creature will be warming his bed when he returns home._

_“Now, it’s our job to capture this monster. Dead or alive.”_

 

☾☾☾

 

“Are you sure you’re feeling better?” Junmyeon asks, carding through Yixing’s hair as he slumps against his desk. “You really don’t look well. How’s Yifan?”

“I feel better than I did before.” Yixing tries to smile but he struggles to make it reach his eyes, hoping to reassure Junmyeon that things are okay. “He’s still recovering, feeling sorry for himself in bed. You know how he is, all soft and weak like that.”

Junmyeon laughs, agreeing that Yifan is too gentle and whiny for his own good, and it makes it easier for Yixing to pretend. However, things are not okay, not in the slightest.

It’s been three days and Yifan’s still not awake, he lays motionless in their bed with only Yixing to care for him. Every morning and evening, Yixing spends an hour or two trying to fix Yifan up and heal him until he’s complete again. But, each time Yixing fills in a gap, a new one appears. He doesn’t know how much more he can do before all of his energy completely gives out. The only upside to the situation is that, with Yifan off the streets at night, Yixing doesn’t have to heal anyone in his team. They’re all safe and sound in the base until they’re called out to find Kris.

“If you need to take a few days off, let me know and I’ll run it through the system. You’re my friend, as well as a part of this task force, okay? I want you to take care of yourself.”

Junmyeon knows Yixing won’t take any time off, not even when he’s as close to collapsing as he is. That’s why, Yixing thinks, Lu Han is hovering around him, fussing over everything Yixing’s doing through the days since his return back to the compound.

Still, the whole group is tetchy with how suddenly the case has slowed down. Half of them worry that Kris is dead and he will never be brought to justice, the others fear that he’s moved out of the city to prey on people in other regions. Yixing’s simply relieved that he doesn’t have to worry about anyone working out that it’s Yifan who is Kris. Yifan’s safe in their home, tucked up in the bed with a medical drip inserted into his arm and more of Yixing’s blood in his veins.

“Do you want a ride home?” Chanyeol calls through as they’re packing up and, for the first time, Yixing says yes. He doesn’t know how he’ll cope on a busy subway with people jammed into the train’s carriage with him, he just wants to get home to be able to eat and sleep as much as he wants.

Minseok and Sehun are in the car, too, when Yixing gets in. Sehun’s the one in the back with him, his long legs spread out between both his own footwell and Yixing’s, but Yixing doesn’t mind that too much. He deflates into Sehun’s side and closes his eyes, taking comfort from the presence of the younger man at his side. Yixing likes the three in the car, they’re the ones who leave him to rest, rather than question him about how he’s feeling. He also appreciates that Chanyeol stops to pick up coffee and food for them as they make their way to Yixing’s house, all of them eating it in the car when Chanyeol pulls into a rare free parking space down one of the side streets.

Sehun shares some of his meal with Yixing, giving Yixing a thinly-lipped smile as he uses his disposable spoon to feed him, and Minseok passes some of his brownie back to Yixing as well. Yixing eats all of that on top of the two boxes Chanyeol had handed to him, going back to resting against Sehun’s side as Chanyeol starts the car up again.

It’s Minseok’s music that plays through the speakers as they weave through the streets and it takes a short pause when they pull up outside of Yixing’s building. Normally, Yixing would invite them up, knowing Yifan would enjoy the company and filling their night with even more laughter than normal. He doesn’t do so then, he gets out and stands on the edge of the footpath with a small wave as they drive off.

Yixing takes the elevator up, too exhausted to take the stairs and he sighs when he gets through his front door. The hallway is pristine. There’s no blood in sight and Yixing takes pride in his ability to clean up the complete mess that was there when Yifan stumbled in through the door.

Removing his jacket and shoes, Yixing stretches until his spine and arms shift with a small series of satisfying clicks. He trundles to the bedroom to check on Yifan, frowning a little when he sees that Yifan’s eyes are still closed and he hasn’t moved from where Yixing left him in the morning. Still, he checks him over and pushes a small burst of energy out of his fingers and into Yifan’s chest.

Not in the least bit happy with the slow progress he’s making with his husband, he kisses Yifan’s temples as he whispers a gentle sorry. He gets into the bed himself for a while, toying with Yifan’s continually greasing hair and murmuring about how his day went. He hopes Yifan can hear him. So, he tells Yifan that he loves him and that if he doesn’t wake up soon then Yixing will start to get angry.

There’s no response other than the steady beating of Yifan’s heart under Yixing’s palm that’s pressed to his scar marred chest.

 

☾☾☾

 

When Yifan does wake up, Yixing isn’t home.

Yixing returns home from the grocery store with the sound of the television coming out of his bedroom. It takes him a few minutes to remember that he wasn’t the one who left it on, the thought striking him whilst he puts a carton of chopped tomatoes into the pantry cupboard. He doesn’t touch anything else but rushes to his bedroom where Yifan’s propped himself up on the bed.

“Oh, Yifan,” Yixing gushes in an emotional sigh. He rushes to his husband and practically pounces onto the bed, crawling until his face is in line with Yifan’s. He kisses Yifan sweetly, appreciating the intensity and sincerity in which Yifan meets it with. His fingers grip to Yifan’s jaw and smooth over his cheeks in sheer affection.

When they separate, tears tracking down to Yixing’s chin with Yifan kissing them away, Yifan mutters something about wanting a bath. Yixing fusses over him instantly, helping him up from the bed and to the main bathroom where their bathtub sits beneath the frosted window that’s on the wall. The tub is half full, with copious amounts of lavender-scented bubble bath, when Yifan gets in. The dried blood Yixing’s earnest hands couldn’t clean away loosens up from where it’s hardened under the rush of hot water, mixing in with the bubbles.

Yixing bathes Yifan, being careful whenever Yifan hisses or cringes in pain. Without being too forceful with it, Yixing lets ripples of his healing powers ebb and flow between them, easing all the hurt Yifan’s feeling.

“You’re going to be okay,” Yixing blurts randomly and Yifan nods, smiling a little.

“All because of you,” Yifan hums croakily, seeking Yixing’s mouth out to kiss it three times. “Always because of you.”

There’s a limpness to how Yifan moves. He lumbers himself around as he gets out of the water, bubbles slipping down his skin as Yixing dries him off and pulls him back to bed. By the time Yifan’s lying down again, Yifan’s short of breath and weak all over again. Yixing doesn’t say anything, though. He fixes a bowl of hot and sour soup, spooning it into Yifan’s mouth to take care of him.

Yixing’s presence appears to soothe so much more of Yifan than he can see physically, so he stays around him. The television is still on in the background, playing some kind of gardening show that neither of them are particularly interested in. But, the moment is enough for Yixing. It feels like heaven to finally have Yifan hold him in return, for him to hum and try to speak whenever Yixing kisses him.

And to hear, “I love you, too,” when he touches and heals Yifan to bring him comfort through all the pain he feels.

 

☾☾☾

 

Yifan cradles Yixing tightly to his chest, nuzzling into his neck and kissing his left collarbone before using his fingers to skim down to Yixing’s heart to feel it beating. Yixing looks down at his husband with a small smile, stroking over his cheeks and reveling in how beautiful Yifan always seems to look. They’re quiet, so very quiet. Neither of them feel the need to smile, as all their delight and love is shown in their eyes.

Both are in awe of the person they love. They fit so perfectly when they’re entwined and when they’re looking directly into the souls of each other. It’s overwhelmingly intimate for Yixing at times but he would never want to look away.

Instead, what Yixing does is move down do kiss the scars on Yifan’s skin that he’s never been able to heal. He traces over the ones he doesn’t kiss with his fingertips, skimming over the tundras of Yifan’s skin to feel the streaked depressions and protrusions that Yixing cherishes so much. With each touch and kiss, Yixing feels the warmth of love expand out from his own chest and out through the rest of his body.

He can sense Yifan watching him, adoring him with his eyes, and he looks up for a few moments.

There are a couple of seconds where Yixing knows something unspoken has passed between them, that Yixing’s devotion to Yifan has him accepting Yifan no matter what state he comes in. Even when Yifan’s bloodied, bruised and scarred all over, Yixing still feels every ounce of love that he does when Yifan’s covered and uninjured. It’s security for Yifan that no one other than Yixing will ever know who or what he is. All he simply has to do is love Yixing back and Yixing would move heaven and Earth to keep him safe. To heal him until his wounds turn as silver as the moon above, and the moon beneath Yifan’s skin. To make everything that ails Yifan slip away until it’s only Yixing’s blood that courses through his veins.

Healing Yifan without question has never been a problem for Yixing, not when his team struggle to comprehend how this villainous monster can recover so quickly, not when there are news reports of a death toll that keeps on rising. All Yixing has to do is look at his husband and know that what he’s doing feels right. That he’s allowed to be selfish.

He can outweigh all the terror Yifan causes with his own goodness, that he can balance them out in the world.

And, maybe, it’s a little too selfish for Yixing to love Yifan exactly how he is. But, the intimacy that is brings them when Yixing fixes Yifan up and kisses him all over before they sleep, is something he would never wish to replace. Yixing wouldn’t change anything at all. Not how they started, with Yifan following him through the night without showing himself. He wouldn’t hide his healer status from Yifan, if he could go back and live his life again. He would always choose to fall in love and sire himself to both the man and creature Yifan is.

It’s worth it when Yifan makes Yixing feel like the sun, all golden and warm.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
